PLoS Pathogens (Feb 2021)

Metabolomic/lipidomic profiling of COVID-19 and individual response to tocilizumab.

  • Gaia Meoni,
  • Veronica Ghini,
  • Laura Maggi,
  • Alessia Vignoli,
  • Alessio Mazzoni,
  • Lorenzo Salvati,
  • Manuela Capone,
  • Anna Vanni,
  • Leonardo Tenori,
  • Paolo Fontanari,
  • Federico Lavorini,
  • Adriano Peris,
  • Alessandro Bartoloni,
  • Francesco Liotta,
  • Lorenzo Cosmi,
  • Claudio Luchinat,
  • Francesco Annunziato,
  • Paola Turano

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1009243
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 2
p. e1009243

Abstract

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The current pandemic emergence of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) poses a relevant threat to global health. SARS-CoV-2 infection is characterized by a wide range of clinical manifestations, ranging from absence of symptoms to severe forms that need intensive care treatment. Here, plasma-EDTA samples of 30 patients compared with age- and sex-matched controls were analyzed via untargeted nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabolomics and lipidomics. With the same approach, the effect of tocilizumab administration was evaluated in a subset of patients. Despite the heterogeneity of the clinical symptoms, COVID-19 patients are characterized by common plasma metabolomic and lipidomic signatures (91.7% and 87.5% accuracy, respectively, when compared to controls). Tocilizumab treatment resulted in at least partial reversion of the metabolic alterations due to SARS-CoV-2 infection. In conclusion, NMR-based metabolomic and lipidomic profiling provides novel insights into the pathophysiological mechanism of human response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and to monitor treatment outcomes.